SAN FRANCISCO — TPC Harding Park will be the testing ground for the World Golf Championship’s intriguing new match-play format this week, but there already is one sure winner: the spectators.

Dumping the March Madness-style single-elimination format in favor of a World Cup-style approach, the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship starting Wednesday will guarantee fans at least three days to watch Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith, Phil Mickelson or any other favorite in the glittering 64-player field.

The only real downer is that the tournament is a one-and-done deal for Harding Park and the Bay Area. The event will move to Austin, Texas, for at least the next four years under new sponsorship, but how the event is received could sow the seeds for a possible return.

It’s hard to see how it will not be received well. Aside from a major championship, Harding Park will host a field almost as stellar as the sport can assemble. Aside from the notable absence of Tiger Woods, who isn’t eligible because he isn’t ranked in the world’s top 64 (he is 106th), virtually every top player is here to compete for the $1.57 million top prize.

Then there is the allure of the match play itself. Even though Harding was the site of the 2009 Presidents Cup, the Bay Area has never seen a match-play spectacle such as this, drawing so many top players from all parts of the world. While the European Tour has staged match-play events under this kind of group format, they were nothing on the scale of this tournament.

The new format should only serve to add spice for both golf fans and the players themselves. In the first 17 years of the tournament’s existence, the single-elimination format often knocked out a lot of the big-name players on the first day. That can’t happen now.

The format has the endorsement of most players, including Mickelson.

“I was not fond of the previous match play because you didn’t know how long you were going to be around,” he said. “But with the new grouping like World Cup soccer, where you play a guaranteed three matches, that to me is a great way to get the best players to the weekend, to keep it a pure match-play form and to make it more entertaining for the spectators. You have so many more matches and different matchups of all the best players in the world.

“This is a great thing for the tournament. I’m excited.”

Tom Clark, executive director of the event, said the format change was made following discussion from the various golf federations around the world — of which the PGA Tour is just one — about how to make the event more compelling.

While the players didn’t have a vote on it, the change was forwarded to a player advisory council and met with overwhelming positive feedback. Players have grumbled for years about having to travel halfway around the world for an event in which they might not even get in a full 18 holes. Moreover, a player could play well on the first day and still get beaten by another player who happened to be playing better.

“Everybody has a much better opportunity playing three rounds of golf instead of just one-and-done,” said Clark. “As you know, when you have the top 64 in the world, anybody can beat anybody at any time. So when you’re in the pool play, it just gives everybody a much better chance to win.”

The only negative aspect for players is that it will take an awful lot of golf to win the event, especially on the weekend, when two 18-hole matches will need to be played each day by the finalists as opposed to one under the old format. But the pros far outweigh the cons.

Defending champion Jason Day, who won under the old format last year at The Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., said at the event’s recent media day that his approach will not change despite the new format.

“It’s going to be interesting,” said Day, an Australian ranked No. 6 in the world. “But my mindset going into it is I still need to go and beat everyone that’s there, regardless of who it is.”

The 16 groups and the matchups for each day will be announced on a live 90-minute selection show on The Golf Channel beginning at 9 a.m. Monday.